sarpedon2 wrote:Anyone feel (whether this is due to playing in 3rd person, which helps give a different sense of scale to places), that the Great Shaft is much larger in scale than it was Uru and End of Ages? Or is it perhaps the reduced brightness enhances the sense of scale?
I'm sure the Shaft itself is the same size and length. However as you noted there are a few things that make it feel larger: the 3rd person camera (which also prevents us from getting a good view of it), the lack of light (also, all the support structures with firemarbles on them from Myst V are gone), the black fog (contrarily to Myst V's weird green fog), and the lack of intermediary Tomahn when you take the elevator.
sarpedon2 wrote:Also regarding the Intangibles attempt to recreate this area of MOUL, given that many areas require different avatar animations to advance (the pipes which the player must hang across along the sluice gate leading to the next cave), would the developers have reincorporated these animations, along with an inventory, or would they have adjusted the areas to suit the current state of MOUL?
Hmmm, I think the Intangibles are more focused on new Ages, while Chloe (GPNMilano) is in charge of the Descent stuff ? Haven't heard about Chloe in a while, though, either she is very quiet or she didn't have time to work on this stuff in the recent months/years.
Anyway, I can't speak for them, but I can say having all those animations into MOULa is completely doable - that's how we fixed the Gahreesen Wall Climb in Deep Island (despite the engine theoretically not supporting it).
But just because it's doable
doesn't mean it's easy. Most of those animations are completely buggy even in the DiRT demo (which wasn't even intended to be multiplayer at the time ?). The Intangibles may feel their time is better spent working on other puzzles.
As for the inventory itself, this is on the todo list since one of the new Ages require it. But I guess it's fairly low priority since the DiRT demo almost doesn't use it, and it's a complex mechanism. Also, this would require a UI, fixes to ensure it works in multiplayer, etc - all a lot of work.
Deledrius wrote: The original is still the best; it's sad it wasn't used as intended.
Well, Myst V got a few improvements, like better models and reflections for the rising floor, a Tomahn along the way, structures inside the Shaft itself, etc. And I think I actually enjoyed having Esher around during the game (despite how annoying he can be sometimes).
But I get what you mean. Myst V removes too much, and that impacts the overall "coherence" of the Age. The whole "Descent" experience is about fighting your way to D'ni by overcoming the difficult terrain, broken machines (that may or may not be of use to you), the darkness, etc (and even overcoming Plasma's bugs contribute to that feeling !). Removing all the secondary broken stuff and abruptly ending the trip in front of a closed door makes it much less enjoyable.